It was Crazy!!!

I have always been one to enjoy myself a good bargain. I do usually partake in some portion of Black Friday, but since I am not a morning person, I tend to wait until about nine or ten o'clock before I venture out to shop. Since we did not travel this year, I decided I would go out at the crack of dawn and get some of my holiday shopping done. I had decided Thursday night that I would meet my girlfriend at Kohl's at 4:00 a.m. However, Emmaline, was up from about 1:15 until 3:30, and since I didn't so to bed until almost eleven, I was in no shape to shop, much less drive. But when she got up again at five and went back to sleep in our bed, I decided I might as well get up and get going. I pulled into the Walmart parking lot at 5:50 a.m. We have two Wal-Marts in our town and I went to the newest one that also happens to be the furthest from my house (it takes me about 30 minutes to get there). I would have gone to the one that was closer, but my SIL had already informed me that it was a chaotic mess in there. It wasn't too bad where I was, but I could not believe how RUDE people were. I then went to Target. Didn't stay long. It was horrendous!! I went to Kohl's....pulled in the parking lot........saw people pushing each other trying to get in the door...........and pulled right back out. At Toys 'R Us, people were still standing outside waiting to get in. I went home and pulled back into my garage about two hours after I left. I had run into my SIL's mother and she was telling me about people threatening her if she didn't get out of their way so they could look at some $29.99 sheets. And then I heard about the Walmart employee in New York that was trampled to death.

I go out early every year the day after Christmas. I thought that was bad. But it was nothing compared to what I saw and heard about last Friday. What on earth as so incredible in Wal-mart that day that people had to trample over a man to get to. (I wonder if it was the $29.99 sheets? Which by the way, you can buy very affordable sheets at Walmart the other 364 days of the year.) I really don't think there was anything in that store that was worth that man's life....not even the flat screen TV's for $388.

Steven and I went back out again for breakfast and to go look for us a new TV. We did end up buying one, but not from Walmart. I had really hoped to enjoy myself that day, but the only thing I enjoyed was spending time with my family. I am pretty sure that next year, I will be sleeping in (if Emma will let me) and going shopping later.

I am Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we are staying in town. We are going to have dinner at the IL's and there going to be 20 of us together today. I am really looking forward to it. It has been a LONG time since all of us have been together.

5 things I am thankful for today:

1. That I live in a country where I can celebrate being thankful.
2. For my hubby, who has been working so incredibly hard lately.
3. For my beautiful daughter who gives me the best hugs EVER!
4. For my parents, who have always been there for me.
5. For my job, that I at least have one, when so many people don't right now.

To the three people that will read this and comment (:-)) I hope you have a wonderful day with good food, good friends, family and some good memories. To members of my family that read this and don't comment.....I love you and I miss you! I pray that one day ALL of us can get together again for the holiday.

My Sweet Hubby!

He has been working a lot lately.  And I mean A LOT!!!  We will sometimes go for 2 or 3 days and not really see much of him, if any.  I may at least see him while he is sleeping, but poor Emmaline won't get to see him at all.  Last week was a particularly long week for both of us.  We all went our separate ways on Wednesday morning and except for a couple of middle of the night "Hi Honey, I'm home.", we did not see him again until Saturday afternoon.  So needless to say, on Friday morning when I got up and started getting ready I was very surprised to see this waiting for me on the bathroom counter.

He does not buy flowers very often and he never buys roses.  (I of course, had to go wake him up and ask him what he had done wrong :-))  I was still oohhing and aahhhing over them when I went into Emma's room to get her up and going and pick her clothes out when I found this...

 

 

It was one thing to get me flowers, but he completely won me over when I realized that he had gotten her one too. 

It also brought back a lot of memories of when I was growing up and my Dad would bring home flowers for my Mom.  He almost always would bring one home for me too.  He has even done that a few times in the last few years when I have done to visit them.  There is just something special about a Daddy buying his little girl flowers, no matter how old his little girl is. 

So I would like to say thank you and I love you to my sweet hubby for getting such beautiful flowers for me and our beautiful daughter. And thank you to my awesome Daddy for all the flowers you brought home for me over the years.  I have wonderful memories of them and I am looking forward to seeing Steven helping to create some wonderful memories for Emmaline.

Christmas Pictures

We took Emmaline to get her Christmas pictures taken last week. Let me know what you think. There are a couple that I am not real fond of, but there are some of them that I LOVE!!

Wes Davis Photo .........when the page comes up, click on the client viewing button and enter 'emmaline' as the password. This pop up window is considered a "scripted" window and you may have to click the yellow bar that appears at the top to allow it. At least that is what I had to do on my computer.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

While Mommy was away...

I survived my long weekend away!  I had a great time with friends, I got some scrapbooking done, I won some goodies, I met some new people, and my house was still standing when I got home.  :-)

Steven took great care of my girl while I was gone and he was very kind and sent me a couple of pictures to show me how she was doing.  He had her leave me voice mails in the morning for me to get once I was able to get service on my phone each day (I was out in the middle of nowhere and service was kind of hit or miss).  I missed her terribly, but it helped being able to talk to her and to 'see' her every once in a while.

 

This was Emmaline on Saturday morning.  Steven had rented Mary Popins for her to watch and she was all nice in cozy in her Tinkerbell nightgown (we call them jammie dresses) and her little robe, sitting (or reclining) in her chair eating an apple.  I just love how her legs are crossed.

 

I wondered how Emmaline would look for church Sunday morning.  Steven is a little short on the hair fixing skills even though he does a great job in the clothing department (most of the time :-)).  He sent me this one before they left for church.  I think he did pretty good...and doesn't she look cute in her little tweed jacket ;-)

 

Thank you to my wonderful husband for giving me the opportunity to go away for the weekend and for taking such wonderful care of our sweet daughter.  I love you!!!

I think I may have problem.

Late last year I was picking on my friend Jill for buying so much scrapbook paper and ribbon. I kept telling her she needed to find a 12 step program for her addiction.

Then I started attempting to gather all of my scrapbooking stuff together for this weekend. I started pulling out bags and lo and behold, I ended up calling Jill and asking her for the number to that 12 step program. I found a TON of paper that I had bought......some of it a year ago and some of it about six months ago. Needless to say, I had forgotten about most of it, so I had gone out last week and bought more. Oops! Then I found a couple bags of ribbons and embellishments. Oops!

Oh well, maybe I will have enough that I won't have to buy anything for the next year.....yeah, right :-)

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I am going to enjoy spending the time with friends while being creative. I am desperately going to miss my girl though. Would you believe that this is the first time I am leaving her for more than one night. Yikes~! "See" ya Monday!

Homework???

I mean, she IS only three! Should a three year old HAVE homework??

I never liked doing my own homework, but I have to admit that I have managed to get Emmaline pretty excited about it. She LOVES to have a paper to take home and work on and then she knows that if she brings it back the next day, she will get a PRIZE. I guess if I had gotten prizes for doing mine, I might have been a little happier doing it too :-)

She usually does pretty good with her 'assignments', but last night she got a little exuberant with her coloring and she decided to just color all the shapes. Oops!

Look at the concentration on her face.

Let me end this with saying that I really don't mind that she has homework. I was a little surprised when it started, but I think it is a good thing. It will get her in the habit of having to do it as soon as she gets home from school before she can play or watch TV. It helps her learn. And it gives her and I some special time together. What more can a mommy ask for!!

Rain, Rain, won't you please.......stay?

Emmaline loves her umbrella and her raincoat. So needless to say, she was really, really happy this past Friday, when she woke up and it was raining.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

Christmas Giveaways

I don't usually enter contests because I never seem to win anything when I do enter. But over at 5 Minutes for Mom they are giving away a ton of stuff over the next few weeks. I have already entered for a couple of things. Good luck!!

21, 28, and 7 days

Can you believe that it is only 21 days until Thanksgiving. And then it will only be 28 days until Christmas. And then it will only be 7 days until the New Year. Wow!!!! 2009 is knocking at my door and I am not ready yet. But on the other hand, I am ready for this year to be over with. It hasn't been an easy one for our family. There is so much going on over the next 8 weeks that it is hard to keep it all straight. We are going to celebrate Turkey Day at the IL's this year. I am hoping that all of Steven's siblings make it. It would be wonderful to have all of us together and have all the babies there. Then it will be the Holiday Party rounds to make, shopping to do, decorating to get done, maybe a little baking here and there, and then before I know how it happened, it will be Christmas morning and Santa will have arrived and Emmaline will think she has died and gone to princess heaven ;-) So while I may be ready for the year to end, I am not ready for the holidays. There is so much to do, but I am looking forward to watching Emma enjoy all of the festivities this year.

Here are a few pictures of Emma with her cousins from Sunday.

Emma was so excited to hold Sydney. She just loved and loved on her. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful day to spend with family.

Visit from Pixie Hollow

Even though my little Tinkerbell was not a blonde, I think she was pretty cute.  She had a wonderful night and is still talking about it.  It was wonderful to spend the evening with friends and family. 

We started off the evening at Grandma and Grandpa's house with the cousins.  They made some pretty cute pumpkins.

 

We let the kids play for a bit and show off for Grandma and Grandpa and then it was off to Trunk or Treat.  I didn't take a lot of pictures while we were there.  I was too busy watching Emma have a good time and visiting with friends myself.  Not to mention I had to sample of the chili and sweets inside :-)

Emmaline with Jill after Jill was done loading up her bucket.  If I had been Emma, I would have been grinning too.

Uncle Scooter took them on the hayride.  Last year we all climbed on, but this year, we let Scott take care of them while we hung out and visited-)

 

Daddy with his little Tinkerbell

 

Tinkerbell posing with her buddy Raggedy Anne. (aka Allison)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought Jenna and Logan were just too cute for words. 

 

 

 

Once we had filled our bellies, we loaded Tinkerbell into the car and headed for Aunt Tricia's and Uncle Micheal's house. She had the house all decorated for fall, so I took the opportunity to get a few more pictures.

I LOVE my precious Tinkerbell!!

After they oohed and ahhed over her and gave her more goodies and then we got her changed and ready for bed.  She curled up to watch some movies and once she was almost asleep we packed her back up and headed for home.  It was a good night.